Homework Help
by Lilac
Summary: O.K., some people wanted me to write this, so here it is. It's a really weird Pheobe/Gerald fic. I don't know quite yet why it's weird, but you can tell me in your reviews. Enjoy. ::coughifyoucancough::


O.K, this is kind of the sequel to Merry Christmas Helga. In a way, anyway. Except this time I'm hooking Phoebe and Gerald up. Anyone have a problem with that? ::looks around the room menacing:: O.K. No problemo then! I'd like to think this takes place a year or two after Merry Christmas Helga, but you can place it in whatever time zone you want. Also, you don't have to read MCH to get this.

d/c: Um, I have something to confess. I DON'T OWN HEY ARNOLD!!!!!!WWWWWWAWAAAAA!!! MOMMY!!!!!

Homework Help

Gerald sighed as he took a look at the clock on the wall. '3 minutes. C'mon!' he begged the clock silently. The second hand past the twelve. 2 minutes. He sighed dejectedly as he slumped back into his chair. He looked over at his blond haired friend, who was taking notes feverishly. Gerald rolled his eyes and smiled. Same old Arnold.

"Now class, before you go, remember. Pages 8-12 are for homework." Mr. Simmons told them. The entire class let out a collective groan.

"Or we could do it tomorrow." He comptemplated. The entire class cheered. The bell rang.

"Phoebe? Gerald? May I see you?" He asked loudly, over the yelling, running children. Gerald groaned. This couldn't be any good. He slowly marched up to Mr. Simmons desk.

"Now, Gerald? I have some problems with your....... way of learning this academic unit." Gerald stared at him.

"He means, he does like how you're not paying attention in class." Phoebe whispered.

"But I'm learning just fine!" Gerald complained.

"Really?" Mr. Simmons asked. "Then what's the square root of 36?" Gerald stared at Phoebe for an answer. She pretended not to notice.

"That's what I thought, Gerald. I'm sorry, but you leave me no choice. I would like Phoebe to tutor you." Gerald stared at Phoebe for a second, while she blushed and turned her head the other way.

"But Mr. Simmons! I don't need to be tutored!" He complained.

"Yes, you do. I'm sorry Gerald but I'm laying my foot down on this one." Gerald groaned. This wasn't good. He had had a crush on Phoebe for as long as he could remember. Working with her was not going to be easy.

"You two can work out your own time table. You're dismissed." Mr. Simmons told them, ushering the two out of the classroom, closing the door behind them.

Pheobe and Gerald were silent for a moment. Then, Phoebe spoke.

"I guess you could come over to my house tomorrow after school. I'm not busy." She said, twiddling her fingers.

"Yeah, that's fine with me." Gerald replied coolly. They stood there awkwardly for a moment.

"Um, I guess I'd better get going. My parents will be wondering where I am." Phoebe said, refusing to meet Gerald's gaze.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." He said. They both walked their separate ways out of the school.

***********************************************

"Aw man! I have to be tutored!" Gerald complained, pressing his face to the phone in a bored drawl.

"So? You haven't been keeping up in your studies. Mr. Simmons probably felt like you weren't trying your hardest, and he wanted a student who could level with you." Gerald's best friend and confidante told him.

"Arnold, it's not that I have to be tutored that's bad, besides the fact it's a waste of time." Gerald said, sighing into the phone as if Arnold was an idiot. "It's who I have tutoring me."

"Who?" Arnold demanded, determined to make Gerald see the gray-if not bright- side of this.

"Phoebe."

"Oh." Was all his friend replied. After Gerald had gotten home, he did the first thing that came to his panicked mind. He phoned his best friend, Arnold.

"Oh? OH?! Arnold, I could completely ruin everything between me and Phebs if I make a wrong move. Then she'll hate me, and I won't even have her friendship to rely on!" He exclaimed, putting an emphasis on the word 'friendship.'

Arnold sighed irritably. "Look Gerald. Why don't you just tell her?" Gerald snorted.

"Man, that is the stupidest idea I've heard since your grandma tried to make you roasted jeans for lunch."

"Well, you told me to do that last Christmas and now I'm in a perfectly happy relationship." Gerald rolled his eyes. He wasn't sure what fate had prompted Arnold and Helga together, but whatever one it was should have been kicked out of the club. Strangely though, Arnold was perfectly happy in his relationship with the sassy, bratty girl. 'Oh well,' Gerald thought. 'I guess opposites do attract.

"Yeah, that might have worked for you but Phoebes completely different." He said. 

"Like how?" Arnold demanded. Gerald drew a blank.

"Yeah, um, is that my mom calling me for dinner? Gotta go!" Gerald explained quickly, hanging up the phone before his motives could be questioned.

"The loon." Gerald said aloud, to no one in particular. Arnold couldn't be right. Could he?

*****************************************

"So what should we get started on first?" Phoebe asked, staring at Gerald through her glasses. He took a minute to think about it, as though it were a trick question.

"Math, I guess. I have a lot of problems with math." Phoebe nodded, opening her math text book.

"Let's see what you already know." She said. Gerald nodded. She straightened her glasses as she thought of a question.

"4 - -5." She said. Gerald stared at her as though she were from outerspace.

"4 what - -5 what?" He asked.

"Well, numbers I guess. They can be whatever you want them to be." She said uncertainly. Gerald smiled.

"O.K., let's see. 4 Phoebes plus 5 negative Phoebes equals -1!" He exclaimed, not even thinking about it. Phoebe blushed a little.

"Sorry Gerald, but you're wrong." He stared at her.

"O.K, if that's not the answer then what is?" He asked.

"It's +9." She said. Gerald blinked. 

"And how do you get that, exactly?" Phoebe mentally groaned. She could tell this was going to be a long night.

************************************

"So? How was your study session with Geraldo last night?" Helga asked Phoebe as she shut her locked, and spun the dial. The bags under Phoebes eyes, and her stare told all.

"Not great?" Helga tried. Phoebe stared for a minute.

"Well, it was O.K. I mean, even if we did study from 3:30 until 7 and even if he DID flirt with me and..."

"Hold on there sister. You mean he flirted with you? He actually flirted with you?" Phoebe sighed as she shut her locker and her best friend accompanied her in the walk to home room.

"It's no big deal Helga. He has before." She reminded her anxious friend.

"Yeah, and you like like him. What's the big deal?" Helga asked causally. Phoebe sighed. Sometimes her friend could be so oblivious. 'Of course, she's in her happy relationship with Arnold, so I guess she wouldn't know about this.' Phoebe offered herself.

"Yeah, I do, but I just feel uncomfortable. I mean, I'm trying to teach him about integers and he's talking about positive and negative Phoebes! I mean, it's just kind of nerve grating." Phoebe told her. Helga nodded.

"Playing the old hard-to-get act?" Phoebe hung her head. She just didn't get this.

*************************************

The system went on for about 2 weeks. They would go to either Gerald's or Phoebes, Phoebe would sit there, talking about integers, Poland and Galileo while Gerald would talk about basketball, French resturants and Phoebe, having absolutely no idea what was going on. Then, one day, she just snapped. This particular day, they were at Gerald's.

"So, Sarah Michelle Gellar is not the president of the United Sates." Pheobe tried to explain in vain, for Gerald wasn't paying that much attention.

"Sarah Michelle Gellar? She's not as pretty as you." At that point, Phoebe shut her history text book angrily, glaring at Gerald.

"That's it! I'm sick and tired of this! Gerald, I don't care that you have low grades! You are the most inconsiderate jerk I have ever met and you deserve it! I will not tutor you anymore! I don't care if you fail this grade or not! It doesn't appear you do either so I'm finished trying to shove facts into your head that you aren't even paying attention to!" She exclaimed angrily, grabbing her textbooks and roughing pushing them into her back pack. "You seem to have no respect for me and you're just wasting both of our time. I'll tell Mr. Simmons to find you a new tutor!" With that, she swung her back pack on one shoulder and stormed out of the house. Gerald sat there, completely mystified. What had happened?

******************************************

"I can't believe it!" Helga exclaimed.

"I know!" Phoebe sniffed angrily, tears of dispair filling her eyes. She was talking to Helga on the phone. That's all she could think of after she had snapped at Gerald. 

"I was probably too hard on his though." Phoebe sighed. She felt so bad after yelling at him.

"No Phebs. You weren't hard _enough_ on him. If Gerald had said that to me and we weren't dating, I would have punched him out!" She exclaimed. Phoebe laughed weakly.

" I know you would have Helga." She replied, smiling faintly. "But I don't think that he knew what he was doing. I mean, I could have just told him he was making me uncomfortable. Gerald can listen. He would have stopped it if I had just said something. I know he-"

"Listen Pheb. You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about." Helga told her firmly, in a way that Phoebe knew that Helga didn't want to hear anything different. "The jerk was hitting on you. You didn't respond to it. He could have gotten the hint. But he refused not to, and now he's paying the price. If I see you even attempting to apologize to Gerald, I swear I'll fail every test." Phoebe smiled. Helga was funny. But she also knew Helga really would fail the grade if she did.

"O.K., Helga. I'll take your word for it." She said.

"Good. Now you go and get some rest." Phoebe nodded.

"Good night Helga."

"Good night Phoebes." The both put down the receivers, but Helga picked hers back up again. She knew Gerald and Phoebe would make a great couple if only they could get together. She just knew that Gerald had screwed it up, so he'd have to make it right again.

**********************************

Gerald came to school, barely awake that morning. He had stayed up all night, trying to figure out why Phoebe was so mad at him. He had tried calling her, but the phone line was either busy, or Phoebe refused to come to the phone. He hadn't call Arnold, because he knew Phoebe would tell Helga, who would tell Arnold, who would tell him off. It just wasn't worth it.

"Hey! Gerald!" Arnold called, running over to him. Gerald sighed as he slowed down his pace. 'Here it comes.' He thought miserably. Arnold caught up with him, and they both resumed normal pace.

"I heard you and Phoebe got into a fight the other night." He said. His voice was calm and sincere. Fear struck Gerald.

"I don't know man. I gave her a compliment but she just screamed at me." Arnold raised his eyebrows.

"You're prettier then Sarah Michelle Gellar?" Gerald sighed.

"Why does everyone thinks that's bad?" Arnold shook his head slowly.

"It isn't Gerald. The only think was you were making Phoebe uncomfortable whenever you guys studied together." Gerald rolled his eyes.

"You got this through your girlfriend, didn't you?" Arnold blushed a little as he sighed.

"Yes, I got this through my girlfriend. But Helga was so sure you two would make a cute couple." Gerald stopped, frowning. Arnold stopped and turned around to face Gerald.

"Phoebe likes you Gerald. You just made her uncomfortable. Failing to realize that just got her ticked off. You have to fix it if you ever expect Phoebe to even consider the possibility of a relationship with you." Gerald looked down. Phoebe liked him? Why would she like a party animal like him? They were complete and total opposites! 'So are Arnold and Helga.' He reminded himself.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll go and apologize to Phoebe after class." He told Arnold determinedly. Arnold broke into a smile as he patted Gerald on the back.

**********************************

"Phoebe! Phoebe!" Gerald shouted over the noise and confusion of the hall. She pretended not to hear him and continued on her way. After fighting the crowd for a minute or two, though, Gerald was able to catch up to her just outside the building.

"Look," He said, catching her shoulder and turning around to face him. Phoebe stood there, staring at her shoes, waiting for him to continue. "I'm sorry for making you feel uncomfortable. Now that I think back on it, you tried to give me the signal to lay off, but I refused to see it. I'm really sorry for being such a jerk. I didn't even realize that I was doing it at first, but when I did realize, I just thought that you didn't mind it. I didn't mean to offend you like that. I should have respected your space. The thing is, I really like you Phoebe. Not just as a friend, but maybe more." He had blurted the last part out before he could stop himself. Phoebe looked up at him, gazing into his eyes emotionlessly. He looked away, and took his arm off her shoulder.

"I'd understand if you didn't want to see or speak to me again after this. I just wanted you to know that I was sorry." He said, turning away. He started walking, but Phoebe ran up to stop him.

"Gerald, it's O.K. You realize what you did, and that's really good. I do want to speak to you again, I want to be your tutor again." She looked down and blushed. 

"I still haven't said anything to Mr. Simmons. Also, I like you too. Not just as a friend, but maybe... more?" She suggested, still looking down, embarrassed. Gerald smiled.

"Great! 7 at the pizza place tomorrow for our first official date?" He asked. Phoebe looked up, smiling.

"Yeah, that'd be great." Gerald then quickly planted a small kiss on her lips, and then started running towards his house.

"See ya tomorrow Pheb!" He called back, turning around and waving. Phoebe smiled and waved back, until he was a dot running across the field. Same old Gerald.

******************************************************************************

Yeah, it was cheap and corny, I confess. But corn's good for you! So, how did you like it? Did it totally suck, or was it O.K? Oh well. You can tell me in your review if you leave one!

Lilac


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